Holiday 7up Pound Cake

Every year for the holidays my granny and my mama would make a yummy 7up pound cake. It was always my favorite! Now that I have children of my own I make the same pound cake every year for the holidays.

I have not always drizzled cranberry sauce on my 7up pound cake, how did the cranberry sauce meet the 7up pound cake? About 8 years ago I invited friends over for dinner one evening and I made fresh cranberry sauce and this pound cake. I had no intentions of the cranberry sauce meeting the pound cake, but when my friend’s husband drizzled this sauce over the pound cake it was amazing and so beautiful. Now my family can not have a 7up pound cake without cranberry sauce!

This year we went to my father in laws house for Thanksgiving and I made everyone this 7up pound cake. When my father in law caught me outside taking photos he clipped this beautiful rose from his garden, what a perfect touch!

7up Pound Cake
3 sticks of butter (room temperature)
3 cups of sugar
5 eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp vanilla
1 TBS fresh lemon juice
zest of one lemon
12 oz bottle 7up

Cream butter and sugar. Then mix in eggs one at a time and beat well. Add the flour gradually. Next add vanilla, zest, and lemon juice. Slowly add 7up and combine well.

Pour mixture into a greased and floured bundt cake pan and smooth out the top. Put in a preheated (325 F) oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until done.

Cool in pan on a wire rack for about 20 minutes and then gently invert the cake on the wire rack and cool completely.

Cranberry Sauce
1 cup water
1 cup of sugar
12 oz fresh cranberries

Boil water and sugar. Add cranberries and bring back to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Using a fine mesh strainer, strain cranberries to remove the whole cranberries and seeds. Drizzle sauce over a slice of 7up pound cake.

Enjoy!

Easy Slow Cooker Applesauce

Nothing makes your house smell like the holidays like a crock pot full of apples. Making applesauce is so easy and I hope you will enjoy this recipe with your family soon! Your kiddos will be smiling :)



In this batch I used:
4 large Honey Crisp Apples
5 Gala Apples
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

* You may use any combination of apples or adjust the sugar and cinnamon to your taste. Some apples are sweet enough that you do not have to add sugar.

First, peel and core apples; then slice each apple in wedges. Add enough water to the slow cooker to cover the bottom, a few tablespoons. Place apple wedges in the crockpot and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Cook on high for 3 to 4 hours or until the apples are tender.
 


Next, gently mash the apples with a potato masher until you have applesauce.

Serve warm or let applesauce cool and refrigerate.

Dulce de Leche Bottom Cupcakes

I know I promised this recipe a few days ago but life happens!
This is such a fun recipe and I would love to share it with you, so lets get started!

This was actually my daughter's cupcake chose for her 16th party, so it had to be good! A few months back Ann from The Fountain Avenue Kitchen posted an easy slow cooker recipe for Dulce de Leche. My family and I have never tried Dulce de Leche, but after reading her post I envisioned these cupcakes. Black Bottom Cupcakes are a family favorite in this kitchen and I thought how lovely the Dulce de Leche filling would be in the middle of this delicious chocolate cupcake :)

I am so glad we tried it because these cupcakes turned out soOoooOoo good!

*Next time I make these cupcakes I am going to add another egg to the Dulce de Leche filling because it was a little heavy and fell to the bottom, hence the name Dulce de Leche Bottom Cupcakes! This cupcake was very delicious, but I was hoping the filling would of been in the middle! My daughter loved the cupcakes and said she would not change it, but I still want to experiment!



Filling
For the Dulce de Leche recipe, click here
1 large egg at room temperature, slightly beaten
16 oz dulce de leche
* I chose to slow cook the Dulce de Leche for 10 hours because I wanted a more pudding texture for the cupcakes.

Cake Mix
adapted from Chocolate Galore Cookbook
makes 24 cupcakes

2 ¼ cups- cold water
¾ cup- melted butter
1 TBS- vanilla extract
2 TBS- balsamic vinegar
3 ½ cups – all purpose flour
¾ cup- cocoa powder
2 tsp- baking soda
2 ¼ cups- sugar
1 tsp salt
¾ cup- semisweet chocolate

 Preheat - the oven to 350 and line a muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.

Make the filling- in a medium bowl mix the egg and the dulce de leche until smooth.

Prop up a pastry bag in a tall glass with the bag’s wide opening at the top. Fold the top of the pastry bag down over the glass. Scrape the filling mixture into the pastry bag. Set the filled pastry bag aside.

Mix the liquids- In a small mixing bowl combine water, melted butter, vanilla extract, and balsamic vinegar.

 Make the batter- In the a large bowl, use a whisk to stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt until evenly blended.

Slowly pour the liquid mix into the flour mixture. Stir until the batter is smooth.

Pour in the batter- Fill each lined muffin cup three-quarters full. 

 Add the filling- Pick up the pastry bag and plugging the tip with one hand, twist the top of the bag to close it. Using one hand to guide the top and the other to squeeze the top of the bag, insert the tip into the center of one of the cupcakes. Gently squeeze a small amount of the dulce de leche filling into the batter. You will see the chocolate batter rise as the filling fills the middle.

 Bake the cupcakes- sprinkle the top of each cupcake with the chocolate chips.

Put the muffin pans in the oven and bake until a thin skewer inserted in to the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Bake about 25 min.

Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 20 minutes, then lift out the cupcakes and put them directly a cooling rack for about 30 minutes or until completely cool.

Enjoy!

Hamburger Veggie Soup

Hi everyone, Last week I had a dozy of a cold and so did my older son! We had all the symptoms: fever, chills, sore throat, and body aches. Ok, I'll just say it...We felt terrible, but being a mom I didn't get to stay in bed and get well as fast as I would of liked! Well, one night I had to fix dinner and when I am sick my body just screams veggie soup. This time I added even more power fighting veggies to my Hamburger Veggie Soup recipe to boost everyone's immune system! This soup is perfect when your body is down and in need of all those extra vitamins and proteins! I would love to share this recipe with you so lets get started!



Ingredients:
1lb hamburger meat
4 cups chicken broth (low sodium)
6 Campari tomatoes
1 red bell pepper (seeded)
5 small potatoes cut into chunks
1/2 lb baby carrots
1/2 lb fresh French green beans (cut into 3 sections), greens beans, or green peas
2 cups of fresh corn or 12 oz package frozen corn
1- 6oz tomato paste
1 tsp kosher salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper (or to taste)
1 tsp garlic and herb seasoning
creole seasoning (to taste)
*additional ingredients and directions for the Vegetable Broth are listed below

Vegetable Broth
4 cups of water
½ large onion or a small onion, sliced in small wedges
2 carrots (cut into 3 sections)
3 celery stalks (cut into 3 sections)
¼ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp whole peppercorn
2 garlic cloves

Directions for Vegetable Broth:
Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Cover and simmer until vegetable are tender. Strain broth into larger pot.

Place the cooked vegetables in blender and add a small amount of chicken broth, blend well.

Add vegetable puree to a large stock pot.

Directions for soup:
In a sauté pan add hamburger meat and season with salt and pepper. Cook hamburger meat until no longer pink. Drain grease from meat if needed and then set aside.

Next, blend 6 Campari tomatoes and the bell pepper until pureed. Add puree to the large stock pot.

Then add chicken broth, diced potatoes, baby carrots, green beans, fresh corn, tomato paste, and all seasonings with the vegetable broth and puree. Stir to combine well.

*If you use frozen corn or peas don't add until the last 5 minutes!

Cover and simmer 20-30 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

When vegetables are tender, add frozen corn and hamburger meat. Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes.

This soup is even better the next day, as most soups are!
Serve warm, salt & pepper or use creole seasoning to taste & enjoy!

Don't forget the cornbread and cinnamon and sugar butter when serving this soup! Click here for the Cinnamon and Sugar Butter recipe.